Dmitrieva, E. (2023). The second volume of Dead Souls [Myortvie dushi]: ideas and speculations. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.)

Abstract

The review concerns a study devoted to one of the most mysterious episodes in the history of Russian literature — the burnt second and the unwritten third volumes of Nikolay Gogol’s Dead Souls [Myortvie dushi]. Upon studying memoirs and archived materials, E. Dmitrieva employs her as ever meticulous research and characteristically engaging narration to reconstruct various aspects of the story: from the first idea of the sequel to the burning of the manuscript and the sensational discovery of an early draft of the first five chapters from part two some six months upon the author’s demise in a turn of events fit for a detective story. Dmitrieva elaborates on the destiny of the manuscript and the book’s genesis, poetics, and hermeneutics, as well as mystifications around, and parodies/stylizations of, Dead Souls. The study clearly demonstrates the scholar’s profound knowledge of Gogol’s oeuvre and mastery of relevant critical literature and memoirs, combined with her ability to relate that knowledge in a succinct form, uncover the hidden, and captivate the reader with her perceptive hypotheses and compellingly argued interpretations.